A thorough, readable account of a remarkable life. From working class roots in Manchester, Ellen Wilkinson went on to become a socialist, suffragist, Labour MP, journalist, novelist, internationalist, trade unionist, Jarrow Crusade leader, and the only woman in Attlee's postwar Cabinet-a lifetime journey few women, or men, could achieve even now.
-- Pat Thane, coauthor of Sinners? Scroungers? Saints? Unmarried Motherhood in Twentieth-Century England
Extremely well researched and exceptionally well written, Red Ellen is work of the very highest caliber by an immensely talented historian of twentieth-century Britain. Beers provides a real sense of who Ellen Wilkinson was, how people reacted to her, and most
importantly of all, why she mattered.
-- Andrew Thorpe, author of
Parties at War: Political Organisation in Second World War BritainA highly accessible biography of a major figure of twentieth-century British political culture. Beers presents her case for Wilkinson as a political polymath with verve and a convincing narrative style, and reveals the multifarious roles in politics-both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary-that Wilkinson played.
-- Susan Pennybacker, author of
From Scottsboro to Munich: Race and Political Culture in 1930s BritainBeers has produced a detailed account of an extraordinary life.
-- Clare Griffiths Times Higher Education
In
Red Ellen, Laura Beers...draws a multifaceted portrait, capturing the woman herself as well as her remarkable political career.
-- Martin Rubin Wall Street Journal
Gives readers a vivid insight into the life of one of the most important figures in the history of the British radical left.
-- Katherine Williams LSE Review of Books
